To Build Dream upon Illusion: When State is a Shark Drug Dealer

 I came across the word “shabu-shabu” in 1999 when a wealthy college friend introduced the new “toy” to us. As I can remember, shabu-shabu, also called methamphetamine aka crystal meth, was incredibly expensive, and only wealthy students could buy it. Youngblood and adventures are undoubtedly forever friends, let alone adventures that occur inside the phantasy and don’t require our body to move somewhere. The thought is common among drug users. Someone gets in touch with the drugs through their friends, starts with two persons then become three, five, ten, fifty …  A university whereas 90% of its students were drug users, this is no hoax. COVID-19 pandemic has curbed students worldwide ability to hang out with their friends and degraded their academic achievements. However, lockdowns that happened and are still ongoing in the some countries might build a new social interaction behavior for young generations. Hopefully, a behavior that will protect themselves when they are far away from home and meet various kinds of friends who offer new lucrative things to try. But is this all enough?

 

Epidemic within Epidemic

Meanwhile, lockdowns in the United States have been effective since March 2020 and ended not so long ago. Anyway, the traces that lockdowns left behind need more time to vanish entirely. For almost all of us, lockdowns are not only the onset of our economic difficulties and long-term unemployment. Challenging situations in nearly all living sectors due to COVID-19 have triggered the rise of another outbreak, i.e., a mental disorder that is also popular as depression. Like other diseases, weak immunity is becoming a perfect pre-condition for any variants of viruses to reign. Fragile mental health is a fertile zone for depression and self-harming obsession. A report mentioned that substance-related death has increased to 30% year-on-year during 2020 in the US, with more than 93,000 cases. The article also highlighted the stigma addressed to people with mental health as “disabled folks,” which has driven many to avoid professional help and find the cure with painkillers consumption like fentanyl. At the time of the writing, this very substance is booming in Joe Biden’s home.

Some of us started to encounter fentanyl when the drug was linked to the death of pop star legend Prince in 2016. According to a DEA official statement, fentanyl is an analgesic (pain relief) and anesthetic, approximately 100 times more than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. Ironically, fentanyl is also a variant of medication that is legally produced and sold in the US. Efforts to decrease fentanyl use as a prescription medication have begun since 2011, but it has not appeared effective yet. COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an epidemic within the epidemic when the number of fentanyl overdose deaths is growing along with the corona-virus linked deaths. Some have pointed to the partiality of the US government over Big Pharma (pharmaceutical giants which dominate drugs distribution and selling across the US and global) as the main factor of US failure to suppress fentanyl use nowadays. 

Sadly, fentanyl abuse is not the only subject of the US epidemic within an epidemic. Crystal meth is also a gross problem when most US states have legalized marijuana use since some years ago. One of the common triggers is the seamless process of crystal meth production, with a method called “shake-and-bake” using ephedrine or pseudoephedrine as the main ingredient. These two substances are widely used as decongestants inside cold and allergic medication inconvenient and drug stores across the US. Meth addicts use this tactic when law forces successfully raided and exterminated the Central America-based drug supply chain. DEA’s attempt urged US Congress to tighten the circulation of cold medication has been broken down once by Big Pharma, pleading that the public also has the right to buy cold medicines without prescription according to their need. A source mentioned, Big Pharma is the major contributor to the annual budget of the US Food and Drug Administration. The group also deploys an army of lobbyists consist of 1,378 people to spread its influence within Capitol Hill, assuring that the US administration’s policies will not stand their way to make a profit. 

 

Golden Crescent

Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, President Joe Biden has suspended 20 years of US military operation in Afghanistan. The world is divided in two, responding to the controversial decision. As the Taliban army is raging these days, they slaughtered the Afghan government and the state army officials, beheaded Afghan ex-interpreters who used to work for the US military. On the one side, some have accused US-Afghan military operations of interfering with other nations' internal affairs. Regardless of the controversy, there is one unfinished "trivia" matter when they reach the deadline on August 2021. Drugs trafficking.  

UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) reported that Afghanistan had become the number one heroine supplier on earth since 1979, only a while before the beginning of endless war take control.  In 2020, there were around 224,000 hectares of opium poppy in Afghanistan, increasing to 37% or approximately 61,000 hectares compared to 2019. As per a study in 2005, drug retailers have distributed Afghanistan's heroin to some countries, Europe, Southwest Asia, and China. In the meantime, the numbers of Afghan addicts decreased as they turned to crystal meth, soaring each day as life seemed uncertain due to the current domestic situation. Among them, ironically, women who end up as addicts after their husbands pushed them to the dark side. 

Amid their attempt to demolish Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand) opium trafficking, China law enforcement has identified another drugs trade hotspot called Golden Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran) ruled over since the 1990s. The Golden Crescent drug makers have penetrated West China via Xinjiang Province, a transit area before the drugs circulated to other parts of China and Asia. The shift in the Golden Crescent production trend opium and heroin to crystal methamphetamine may have been pushed by an increase in the number of users worldwide. Rather than heroin or marijuana, a meth user will feel more confident, fitter during activities, clubbing, and having sex tirelessly. Lately, drug addicts no longer use crystal meth just to run away from the harsh reality and go floating in the clouds. They crave eternal energy since they have to work hard non-stop and raise a lot of money to achieve the ideals of a prosperous life that will elevate their position in society without sacrificing the needs of pleasure. The powerful effect of meth indeed provides a sensation of such energy. Even it's perishable.

The question is, who was on earth initiated the establishment of the Golden Crescent where all the energy of delusion came? Since the 1980s, there were indications that the Afghan mujahideen used opium production and sales to finance arms sales, later diversifying their business into the sale of methamphetamine. The purity of methamphetamine made from fever medicine will certainly be less to that of methamphetamine produced in Afghanistan, as ephedra (a type of plant ephedrine made of) is in abundance growth there. Relying on long experience in the processing and distribution of heroin, the Taliban controls the entire Afghan drug network with an income of about $4.2 million per year. Within a few years, drugs enforcement had caught off the smuggling of Afghan methamphetamine in Iran, Pakistan, and Indonesia. However, this was not enough to solve the root of the problem, while the increasingly widespread distribution of methamphetamine went unnoticed due to the tumultuous news of the Delta variant.

I remember a friend’s story whose brother was shot to death during a drug raid operation in a city. My friend had no idea that his brother was involved in an illicit trade network since the deceased did not smoke and was not a drunkard. Then, the brother and his friend, a high-profile bookie, were driving in a car carrying tens of kilograms of methamphetamine. The authorities shot him for trying to escape. My friend also told me that the big dealer had called him on the phone from prison before being sentenced to death in 2011, that he had donated his “hard-earned” money to several Islamic boarding schools in a town. Several years ago, I heard rumors that GAM (Independent Aceh Movement) was selling marijuana to finance their weapons purchases and rebellion. Whether it’s true or not, who knows.

We can conclude from the stories above that the Golden Crescent is not as divine as its name. It is undeniable that the Taliban's aspiration to establish an Islamic State that enforces Islamic Sharia has attracted sympathy from Muslims in various parts of the world, including Indonesia. As a Muslim who has not practiced Islamic Sharia properly, I was somewhat relieved when the Taliban guaranteed that they would treat Afghan women more humanely according to human rights. However, a dream should have thrived the right way. One should not manipulate any religion to justify and legalize immense evil deeds that we did intentionally, no matter the exact purpose of the action. Will the goal of enforcing Islamic Sharia make people condone the Taliban's gunfight upon drug sales?

I am not a perfect and sinless person, but I find it unacceptable knowing anyone undermines religion as an excuse or guise. I believe that is not what religion was created for. Results don't betray the process. A clean process will, of course, result in something positive, not the other way around. The Taliban's big homework as soon as they succeed in taking over the rest of Afghanistan is breaking the circle of drug trafficking that has supported the Afghan people for decades. Because I believe all countries require their citizens to be physically and mentally healthy without drugs so that together they can build a prosperous nation's life. I am grateful that I have found the light at the end of the tunnel of darkness, but drugs and especially meth are still a threat to some extent. A former marijuana dealer who died 15 years ago once said, "drug business will never die as long as the buyers don't die."  (dy)

Free Will, Will It Liberate?

I must confess that Freedom has been my favorite topic ever since, as I am a freedom devotee dropout from a college that was then heaven for (once) youngsters like me. We were fortunate enough to be a generation of exemplary ignorant, expressed our ideas boldly, bullying victims and executants who rarely followed up the bad seeds with struggles against each other. However, time is shifting forward than backward. As the hair is turning gray, we realize that Freedom has changed its face over time. Now, it is no longer something that we used to love during our youth, rather than a lustful monster that is all ready to consume and confine common sense. There were times when Freedom was immensely invaluable than gold because it was hard to acquire. Its price has been going downward drastically these days, and it almost loses its actual substance. The time has come for us to re-interpret the fundamental significance of Freedom without sacrificing human rights to live in peace and safety.

Given that it has been gained recognition in some regions globally, many are reluctant to bring up LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, + goes for anyone with a sexual orientation that does not belong to any of these groups) issues resolution over morality and appropriateness matters. LGBT+ communities have suffered from long-term abuse, discrimination, hate-crime victims, rape, and conviction as the price they must pay for what they believe is their identity. During the 1940s, LGBT+ communities found their foothold and risen in the United States demanded their rights to get better and equal acceptance as humans. The victory came when all US states finally suspended same-sex relationships and sexual intercourse prohibition in 2003.

An enormous upswing for the LGBT+ communities finally came when European Union approved the LGBT+ rights protection bill and imposed force against any EU members that fail to show any support and approval to follow the account to the utmost. Hungary has perceived the bill differently. The country has committed to protecting traditional family values against LGBT+ campaigns through an instruction that proscribe LGBT+ propaganda at schools, television, and advertisement for children under 18+. PM Viktor Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister, rejected any accusation that claimed the rule made to force because Hungary is an anti-LGBT+ state. Unfortunately, Hungary received criticism at the moment, threatened with being expelled from the UE if it doesn’t cancel the rule immediately. This accusation is not the worst part. At the time of writing, a discussion is underway among Western countries to work on a bill that will allow children under 15 years to change their sex.

 

When Freedom Fails to Liberate

Freedom is supposed to liberate humans not to crush by the rejection from within themselves of the ongoing situation around them, regardless of their direct or indirect involvement. It should have been something that arouses anyone to choose and determine what is best for themselves, to grow, and to improve in the direction of their hopes and ideals. Nevertheless, this is just a utopia about the ideal life because reality is unpredictable. Free will does not come out all of a sudden. In the beginning, free will arises because there is pressure, as lovebirds fill each other’s emptiness. When the pressure is no longer there, free will wanders, pressing in the narrow recesses of the human mind who has a narcissistic habit against the will of life to live naturally. Does this mean that pressure is eventually required to keep the free will within the human mind not to lose its path?

The United States' economic, financial, and military sanctions on Cuba are the longest ever in world history so far. For about 60 years, the Cuban people are not allowed to trade with any country, and they are prohibited from using any international payment methods for national and personal purposes. The government has been suffering a limited supply of medicine and food and could not sell their domestic products to any country. The sanctions are imposed since the era of Dwight Eisenhower and expanded further in 2021 have been in effect since 1960, when Fidel Castro overthrew US-backed President Fulgencio Batista (1952-1959). The US saw these sanctions as punishments for the Fidel Castro government's 1959 policy of nationalizing some assets which belong to US citizens in Cuba under the Agricultural Reform Act, worsen by the accusation of sponsoring revolutionary movements in the Caribbean region.

More often than not, United States sanctions are meant to give some lessons to the dissident countries burning the people's willpower to rise and end the ruling regime against the superpower country's interests. If sanctions are one of the pressure manifestations, then the people's resistance is free will, which should emerge as the origin of this causal relation. However, such pressure comes from outside (the United States) is a blatant violation of any nation's sovereignty. Some Cubans turned immigrants in the US realized this, marched to protest against the US government in Washington, demanding the lifting of sanctions on their homeland. Their struggle deserves our reflection because the latter Cuban community left the country due to long-term discord with the Cuban communist government.

The saga between Cuba and the United States began with the free will of President Fidel Castro, whose massive actions triggered US sanctions as the reaction. However, previously the United States had intended to overthrow communism in Cuba by supporting President Batista. America considers communism a severe failure, a violator of human rights as the state forces excessively binding regulations to maintain the discipline of its citizens from head to toe. People's well-being is guaranteed by the communist state, like parents who work hard to fulfill the needs of their children. In return, children must obey and listen to their parents' words to be safe into adulthood. In short, the children are trained not to have free will, which is immensely unfavorable for a communist government and may spread like a virus from one child to another.

Children who love freedom will be extremely frightened at the thought of the absence of space. In the democracy sphere, personal opinions are expressed without restrictions, as there is no punishment for the creators of caricatures or any president’s memes. Citizens are also free to earn a living and choose a religion or belief. The scope of freedom also expands over time, and the will to come out as LGBT+ is one of them. This section discusses cases when the free will fails to liberate human beings, individually and collectively, from exclusivity. They create a border that separates themselves from the normality of social life, be it Fidel Castro, the US presidents defending Cuban sanctions, and LGBT+ fighters. From my point of view, free will is not always in line with social norms prevailing in society. Still, individuals do not have to sacrifice their pleasures to create stability in society. The view is worth fighting for those who believe that the strength of a nation lies in the power of each individual’s will and how they struggle for it. The persistence of fighting for free will in the example above invites conflict in various forms and scales of severity, failing to liberate the community from the pressure to move forward achieving other, more meaningful matters.  

Does this mean free will is something forbidden? Not really. No one can decide another person's sexual orientation or tell a leader how to rule their territory, including how to behave towards their enemies. We need free will as the foundation of finding new possibilities and suffering the consequences simultaneously. A free will may liberate when it is no longer exclusive, understandable by society, while leaving a secret room for individuals to be free from different compulsions. Such space will be last when we no longer need recognition and be aware of our role in maintaining the stability of togetherness.